Blah, Blah, Blah. Do you ever tire of words? It seems that we are inundated with them from the time we wake until we finally escape them in sleep. What to do short of exile? Relax, take a deep breath, and use your eyes for seeing, not reading! As children, we saw with wonder before we read with understanding. Let’s recapture that wonder and open a ‘picture book’.
What was the sound of the front door slamming? What kind of imprint would your living-room carpet leave on your naked knees? How did your mother smell when she left Saturday night for a party? These are some of the assignments that Iris Eichenberg gives her students so that through childhood memories they might gain insight into their obsessions and develop them into an artistic language.
From Hand to Hand: Passing on Skill and Know How in European Contemporary Jewellery Read More »
It is said that Arctic peoples have one hundred words for snow. There could easily be that many words to describe the gold jewelry in Masters: Gold: Major Works by Leading Artists. At first glance the 40 featured jewelers have little to connect them, other than their extraordinary facility with the precious material. Internationally known artists such as Wendy Ramshaw and Bruno Martinazzi are rightfully included, but there are many pleasant surprises as well that make this book well worth looking for.
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Kevin Coates calls himself a ‘ghost whisperer’ and he’s right. The jewelry, table ornaments and drawings of this British artist carry a unique message of fantasy and enchantment, coupled with a Cellini-like mastery of goldsmithing techniques. Dr Elizabeth Goring and Dr Helen Clifford contribute thoughtful and detailed analyses of Coates’s creative processes and passions, including
Kevin Coates: A Hidden Alchemy – Goldsmithing: Jewels and Tablepieces Read More »
With over 400 images by nearly 200 artists, there is a lot to look at in Adorn: New Jewelry by Amanda Mansell. The book’s chapters are organized by jewelry type (rings, brooches, etc.) with a short introduction for each section. The jewelers represented are mostly young and European, many of whom attended the Royal College of Art in London. There are only a handful of United States jewelers featured.
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If there’s one word I would disagree with in the title of this book, it would be ‘madness.’ This weighty volume (519 pages) with its black and white comic book-style cover is in fact an exciting tribute to the serious, fun, dangerous and voluptuously varied work of 77 past and present students of Otto Künzli,
The Fat Booty of Madness: The Goldsmithing Class at Munich Art Academy Read More »
Katja Prins, Continuum brooch, 2007, silver, sealing wax, 83 x 76 x 35 mm Katja Prins, Bound By Blood Necklace, 2007, wooden beads, cotton, 300 mm long As enigmatic as the title may be, provocative essays by Ward Schrijver, Graziella Folchini Grassetto, Ursula Ilse-Neuman and others inform the reader to appreciate the cohesion of the
Katja Prins: The Uncanny Valley Read More »
